Corporate volunteers lend a hand on Wired project

Corporate social responsibility has taken an ever increasing role in many modern day corporations which in turn has led to to a large increase in the amount of companies who actively support their employees volunteering.

A VolunteeringAustralia study found 54% of the survey respondents ranked corporate social responsibility considerations as the main reason why their company engaged in volunteering programs, with 57% giving between twenty to thirty thousand dollars a year to fund their volunteering programs.

While direct funds contributions can go a long way, contributors often feel a greater sense of involvement in the project to which they are donating when they actually donate their time. Community organisations too like to know that their supporters are fully engaged in their projects.

That’s why schemes like United Way Australia’s Corporate Volunteering program have emerged, to offer corporate partners a way to give that goes beyond a bank cheque.

The program recently had senior managers from Commonwealth Bank trading their suits for paint smocks at the Collingwood Housing Estate’s computer hub.

As well as working to brighten up the facility with a fresh lacquer, the working bee helped to engage corporate employees in their community at a grass-roots level.

The corporate volunteers had the opportunity to see for themselves the benefits that the community computer hub and access to affordable internet and helpdesk support bring to residents of the estate.

There are many grassroots Infoxchange programs that could benefit from such corporate volunteer partnerships such as the digital inclusion initiative Wired Community@Collingwood and the eACE training hubs at the public housing estates, both program with direct community benefit which both rely heavily on volunteer support.

Infoxchange is also looking to make volunteering even easier and will soon be launching its Digital Pools website, a portal to help connect digital inclusion projects with the right volunteers, expertise, resources and money they need. This website will be a useful resource not just for corporations looking at engaging in volunteer projects, but everyone involved in the organising and running of volunteer projects in Australia.

For more info about Digital Pools please email: info@infoxchange.net.au